The baby chicks are here!

Last Saturday my daughter and I took a chicken-keeping class at Love Apple Farm. Then we brought four cute baby chicks home.

We were very sad the next morning to find that one of them did not make it through the first night. We had a little ceremony for her and buried her in our garden. The chicks were shipped very young and it’s hard on them. We think also that our 150 watt bulb may have been too strong. It was over 100 degrees in the box! So we switched it for a 60 watt bulb which keeps the temperature between 82 – 90 degrees. They seem much more comfortable now.

The three left are doing great. They are about two weeks old now and just sprouting their first tail feathers. They are supposed to be giving eggs by Thanksgiving when they are about 6 months old.

My daughter has named the little grey one “Squirt”. She’s the smallest but feistiest. Squirt is a Blue Andalusian chicken. The yellow fuzzy one – as yet unnamed –  is a Buff Cochin and the brown one may be an Araucana or Ameraucana. They are supposed to be all hens, but there is an error rate when they try to determine their sex so young, so who knows! My daughter thinks that Squirt is a rooster because he/she has an ‘attitude’.

Today he/she was the first to fly up to the top edge of the box and perch there. I heard a lot of sqawking and when I went into the bathroom where their box is, there was Squirt perched on the top of the box, squeeking and squawking saying: “Hey, look at me way up here”! Or maybe it was: “Hey, what am I doing way up here –  help!” The box is now covered with a screen to keep Squirt down to earth.